Secret Command (1944)

The authorities suspect that there are some traitorous shenanigans going on at a shipyard that is about to work on an aircraft carrier, so they draft in “Gallagher” (Pat O’Brien) - complete with a new family - to the site in the hope that he can infiltrate the nest of vipers. He has very recent experience of working in Europe, his “wife” is FBI agent “Jill” (Carole Landis) and their two kids are supposedly relocated wartime refugees. Now his estranged brother, “Jeff” (Chester Morris), who got him the job in the first place is less than convinced by this all too conveniently presented arrangement. His suspicions only add to the tension as he suspects that perhaps his sibling is out to rekindle a prior relationship with his own girlfriend “Lea” (Ruth Warrick) and so he begins to complicate what is already a fairly precarious situation for “Gallagher”. The workplace is a dangerous enough place at the best of times, and so “Gallagher” knows that one wrong move could alert their enemies and see him at the bottom of the sea. Can he discover who is up to no good in time? Morris barely features so the show is left to a competent O’Brien who does enough here to keep the mystery moving along despite a serious surfeit of dialogue at the expense of much by way of action. I can always do without any romantic elements in thrillers but though contrived a bit, this one also serves to reinforce a message to the audience that it’s the family that we are all fighting these evil Nazis for in the first place. The last ten minutes heats up nicely with plenty of dimly lit fisticuffs and of course it has that wartime government health warning about keeping your eyes open and your mouth shut. It’s not great, but passes the time enjoyably enough.